The complainant in this case, a non-governmental organisation, was concerned that two entities on the Transparency Register had failed to disclose information on their links with the food industry. The complainant raised these concerns with the Secretariat, which administers the Transparency Register for the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. It then turned the Ombudsman about how the Secretariat had dealt with its complaints about the Register, which aims to provide transparency around interest representatives that interact with the EU institutions.

The Ombudsman found that the Secretariat had conducted only a limited investigation into the concerns raised by the complainant, merely assessing the replies received from the two entities concerned. The Ombudsman also took the view that, in assessing the alleged links with the food industry, the Secretariat had applied a narrow definition of the concept of ‘affiliation’ of entities, as set out in the applicable rules, which is not in line with the spirit and objective of the Transparency Register.

The Ombudsman found that, taken together, the issues identified amount to maladministration. However, as one of the entities in question is no longer on the Transparency Register, she took the view that a recommendation to conduct a new investigation into the two complaints would not serve any useful purpose. The Ombudsman therefore made four suggestions to the Secretariat.